


I'm Down to Just One Thing

by TheSofterGentlerMe



Series: The Lyrical Anthology [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Finding a Way, Gen, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Recovery, The Lyrical Anthology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24575812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSofterGentlerMe/pseuds/TheSofterGentlerMe
Summary: When you're a part of Hordak's Horde, you know your goals and your place. So what happens after Horde Prime has come and gone and all of the Horde has scattered to the wind? What happens when you have to make your way in the world now?
Relationships: Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra), Scorfuma - Relationship
Series: The Lyrical Anthology [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767634
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	I'm Down to Just One Thing

The world changed for Chuck one day. He’d been serving in the Horde for years, worked his way up to sergeant and he’d heard rumors of Hordak bringing in a larger army to finally bring this whole thing to a close. For Chuck, everything seemed like it was going to be great. Then one day when he was stationed in the Fright Zone as a rear guard for a big push against the Rebellion and the Princess Alliance, he started hearing reports of the final attack getting wiped out. Then he started hearing explosions and sounds of fighting in the Fright Zone but even though he and the few left behind went running around trying to figure out what was happening he never did find out. Then Horde Prime showed up. 

At first Chuck was excited. The reinforcements had finally shown up! And from the looks of them, they were going to mop up the Princesses in nothing flat! But Horde Prime didn’t even consider them. Hordak had just disappeared. Chuck and the remains of Hordak’s once mighty army scattered to the winds with only a few sticking around. When the magic returned, when Horde Prime fell, Chuck was by himself camped on the edge of the Crimson Waste. He hurried to the nearest town to find out what had happened and was swept up in the joy. However, his joy was in something else. 

Horde Prime was gone. The promised redemption hadn’t happened but Chuck was a soldier and he knew well what it meant to lose ground but come back fighting. Almost his entire life had been spent fighting to bring about the fall of the Princesses and sitting in his small campsite a few days after he learned about the fall of Horde Prime he knew he had to make it happen. He still knew where some of the Horde supply depots were located, he still knew where he could find a few surviving Horde members and they could probably find a few more, and after that well, the Fright Zone was still there. That’d be their first big conquest. That’s what they’d take as their first big declaration that this wasn’t over, not by a long shot, no matter what those Princesses thought. 

The last night in his camp, Chuck sat and looked at the stars. He had to admit, they did make the night look beautiful. He loved finding patterns and shapes in the stars and it was one of the reasons he’d picked the Crimson Waste to hide in. The air there seemed clearer and he could see the stars better. Tonight he ate a red ration bar because those were nice and spicy and he considered them a treat and always tried to save one for special occasions. 

“And what’s more special then the Resurgence?” Chuck said to the empty night. 

Taking one last look at the stars he crawled under a flap of canvas that served him as a tent and fell asleep, content and ready to start. The next day found him climbing aboard a skiff and flying for Seaworthy. The night they’d left the Fright Zone his friend Fire Ears had said he’d be heading there. 

“I hear that there’s some smuggling and pirating work to be had there,” Fire Ears had said. “Gotta be something we can do for them. Come with me, Sarge! We’ll make a good team!” 

“No, I’m going to wait and see if we’re needed. Hordak is probably just up there reporting in. You know how long that can take sometimes. I imagine after being separated so long, he’s probably got a lot of paperwork and such to handle. You wait, we’ll get the call,” Chuck had said. 

“Well find me if you change your mind,” Fire Ears said. 

Chuck thought about that as he went towards Seaworthy. He wondered just what HAD happened to Hordak. It had seemed like a lot of the high command in the Horde had just kind of up and vanished either right before or right after Horde Prime had arrived. Scorpia had been first but he’d heard a rumor she had either gotten captured or even defected over to the Princesses. He remembered Double Trouble but they’d always been in and out all the time on something hush-hush but Chuck had realized that he hadn’t seen or heard about them either. Then Catra and Hordak both seemed to disappear at the same time right when Horde Prime showed up. He’d always just assumed they’d both gone up to report but why hadn’t he ever seen them again?

_ Why didn’t they try and use us for SOMETHING? I mean yeah, the clones and bots Horde Prime brought were tough but we could have helped,  _ Chuck thought.  _ We could have done something. They didn’t need some stupid chip, we never did. Maybe I wouldn’t be trying to scrape up another army if they’d put us out there as well. If they’d just known our worth.  _

So not long after the fall of Horde Prime Chuck walked through the bars of Seaworthy while parties took place all around him looking for Fire Ears. No one seemed to have heard of him and it always seemed to go the same way.

“Come on, he’s not easy to miss,” Chuck said at one particularly grimy bar. “Short guy, black fur all over except around his ears. Then they’re…” 

“Yeah, yeah, buddy, you already said, fiery red hair,” the bartender would say. “It didn’t ring a bell the first time you said it, it’s not like I didn’t hear you then.” 

“He was about this tall, stocky…” and some bar patron would shake their head or just turn away from him. 

Finally Chuck would sigh and go on to the next. Finally, at a grimy little bar near the docks he found someone who said he knew him.

“That guy? Yeah, I know that guy. He helped on a few smuggling runs we did a while back. Last I heard he left town,” the bartender said to him. Chuck tried to contain his excitement when she leaned over the bar and said, “Hey, Dust! You remember Fire Ears? This guys looking for him, says he’s a friend.” 

Another woman looked up from a table where she’d been carefully carving a small figure. She was covered in tattoos of ships and knots with her mohawk cut braided down her back and she stood and came over to the bar. She looked down at Chuck and gave him the once over before she spoke. 

“Who are you and why are you looking for Fire Ears?” Dust said to him. 

“My name is Chuck. I’m an old friend you know and it’s been forever since I’ve seen him and well what with everything I’m trying to…” Chuck began, shrinking under her gaze. He really wished he had his Horde armor or even his stun baton but he’d thought that’d probably have been a bad idea. 

“You knew him in the Horde is what you’re trying to say,” Dust said to him. The room got a little quieter. Chuck felt ice run down his spine. He knew people were going to figure that out. He was flying around in a Horde skiff after all and while his clothes didn’t have Horde symbols on them it was really obvious where they came from. He’d have to face that eventually and now was as good a time as any other so Chuck took a deep breath, remembered an old quote about audacity, always audacity he’d heard when he’d first joined the Horde as a kid, and straightened up. 

“I did. And he was a good friend and he had my back in a lot of fights,” Chuck said, doing his best to keep the shake out of his voice. “But those days are done. Now I just want to find my friend. Do you know where he is or not?” 

Dust laughed and Chuck felt the room loosen up a little. “Well Chuck, you seem awful full of swagger but dang, when wasn’t a Hordie full of themselves? Even after all of this you still got it. Well, I do know where he is but it’ll cost you.” 

Chuck felt a stab of anger as the room burst out laughing at him but he fought it down. 

_ Just let it go, just let it go, _ Chuck said to himself.  _ Why wouldn’t they laugh at you? They think you’re less than nothing, just a beaten foe. But that won’t last. _

“Well, whatta you want?” Chuck said, aiming for nonchalance and missing. 

“Not much, not much, Hordie. How about… I know, you still got your Horde helmet?” Dust asked. 

“Yeah, I got it around somewhere,” Chuck said. “Why do you want that though?” 

“It’s got good tech in it! Auto-dimming glass, good radio, night vision, it’d be great out on the sea doing, well, stuff,” Dust said with a grin. “Can’t see that you’d need it anymore after all. And why should it matter to you? Not like you need it since you’re just looking for an old friend. Right, Hordie?” 

Chuck could feel the room tense up again. He knew his answer would matter because of course it mattered to him. He’d been trained since he was little that his uniform was his responsibility, it showed his place in the world, and anything that happened to it was his responsibility. He still remembered getting yelled at for fifteen minutes by a Force Captain on a surprise inspection when he’d accidentally misplaced his spare boots as a cadet. The thought of just giving parts of it away grated against him. But he knew he was going to have to be flexible if he was going to get what he wanted. 

“You’re right. Was just hanging on to it out of habit after all. It’s not like I’m going to need it again,” Chuck said. “Come on, I think I’ve got two. I’ll sell you the other if you want it.” 

“Deal,” Dust said as she grinned and nodded at a couple of friends to follow them out. Chuck hoped this wasn’t about to turn into a robbery but he had parked the skiff at the docks in the open so hopefully he’d be alright. He did have two helmets, he’d brought one for Fire Ears, but he figured he could use a little money instead. Besides, he still knew where those old supply depots had been and he’d just get new ones then. 

At the docks it was approaching dusk and the parties had mostly moved indoors and less people were around then Chuck would have liked. “Hold on, it’s right here in the right side storage.” 

As he went to open the hatch he heard a swishing noise and suddenly he was looking at several swords and knives.

“Whoa there,” Dust said. “What do you think you’re doing!?”

Chuck stood stock still and tried to swallow as slowly and as non-threateningly as possible. “Did… did you, uh, not want…”

“I do but I’m not an idiot! You went barreling for that hatch, Hordie! What are you trying to pull?” Dust said. 

“Nothing! It’s where I have the helmets! I swear!” Chuck said. “Here, I’ll open it one handed! See? Other one right here in plain sight.”

All three of the women looked at him with deep suspicion as he struggled to get the heavy hatch open. But once he got the latches undone and started to pull it up, it sighed open on hydraulics and he took the chance to put both his hands up.

“OK, if it’s alright, I’m just going to reach in now and pull out the helmets. They’re in bags ok? I’ll set them on the ground and open them up,” Chuck said. 

One of the other women nodded at him and he slowly withdrew the two bags. Setting them on the ground he knelt down and felt sweat trickle down his spine as the blade tips followed him. He unzipped the bag and set each helmet on top of it. 

“There you go. See? Just trying to uphold my side of the deal! That’s it!” Chuck said as he slowly straightened up. 

The three women sheathed their weapons and Dust spoke, “Sorry about that. Gotta understand, our line of work, it can be a bit... dicey. Never can be too careful!” she said with a malicious grin. “Well I’ll uphold my end now. Your buddy got a decent chunk of money together and moved to Salineas and opened up some shop there. Shouldn’t be hard to find him.”

Chuck nervously laughed, “No, it’s ok. I get it. And thanks, I can’t wait to see him! So, what price you want to pay for that second one?” 

They dickered for a few minutes and settled up. Dust and the other two left chatting and happy carrying the helmets. Chuck leaned against the skiff and took a few deep breaths. He’d seen action in the Horde but it was always with others by his side and it was rarely that up close and personal. And if he was honest with himself, he hadn’t seen any in years, not once he’d been promoted to Sergeant and had started working mostly from the Fright Zone or rear camps in the field. 

_ But that’s not a problem. Hordak never took to the field and he did pretty good before it all fell apart. I’ll get back in the swing of things!  _ he thought as he climbed on the skiff to leave town. 

He arrived at Salineas in the middle of a party so large he’d heard it from high in the air as he swooped in over the town. He landed and stood there slack jawed at the people dancing in the streets, singing, laughing, throwing confetti, passing around food and drink, and playing music of all kinds. He stumbled through the streets with people offering him drinks, shouting at him to come over and dance, or just hang out with them. 

_ What IS THIS? This is unbelievable!  _ Chuck said to himself on what felt like a continuous loop. Finally, after not getting very far he asked a stranger if he knew Fire Ears. 

“Him? I do! Great guy! Runs a great little tailor shop up the way!” the man shouted over the noise of the crowd. 

“Can you give me directions? I’m an old friend,” Chuck shouted back.

“I can do you one better my friend,” the man said as he turned around to a small crowd behind them. “Hey! This guy here is looking for Fire Ears! He’s an old friend of his! Let’s give him an escort! COME ON!”

And the next thing Chuck knew, he was being swept along with a boisterous group of people dancing along to the beat of a drummer and a few horn players. Chuck had no idea how to dance but even he could feel his feet picking and going down to the melody. It was only a short time later that the group arrived at the tailor shop. Out front, a large patio sat with huge flaps of colorful fabric flapping in the breeze coming up the hillside from the harbor. Another group of people were gathered in front when the group leading Chuck started hollering.

“Fire Ears, Fire Ears! We got an old friend of yours with us! Fire Ears, come out and see your buddy!” they shouted. 

At first Chuck didn’t recognize his friend. He was dressed in a loose shirt and flowing baggy pants, all in a beautiful intertwining pattern of reds, oranges, and yellows. He had sandals on his feet and as he looked up from where he sat in front of his store chatting and laughing. His smile remained but he was definitely a bit confused. But as Chuck was gently hustled to the front of the crowd and Fire Ears saw him, a huge grin broke across his face. 

“Sarge!? CHUCK!” he said as he leapt up and ran forward to meet him. “I never thought I’d see you again!”

He grabbed Chuck up in a huge hug and lifted him into the air. Chuck was dumbfounded. The old Fire Ears, the one he knew from the Horde, had been a fairly reserved person. At first he thought he’d found the wrong person, that there must have been two Fire Ears, and he’d found his outgoing twin. Then as Fire Ears sat him down and Chuck saw the lines of scars across the back of his left hand where the fur didn’t grow. He’d got it yanking a door shut behind the two of them as a storage tank had blown up during a battle. 

The two groups were cheering as Fire Ears turned around and said, “Make a seat! Make a seat for my friend! He’s saved me so many times! My friend has returned!” 

They settled down in front of his shop and the party swirled around them. Chuck ate food he’d never even heard about, drank so many different drinks he knew he’d never remember what they were but loved them all, and most importantly he got to talk to his friend. For a while, he almost forgot just why he was there. Then people started flowing past them down the street. 

“Where are you going?” people from their group shouted.

“They’re about to leave! Come on! Come on! Let’s give them the proper send off!” people in the crowd shouted back. 

Suddenly everyone at the shop was on their feet and headed down hill towards the docks. Fire Ears was grinning as Chuck ran behind him. He wanted to ask what in the world was going on but the noise of the crowd was overwhelming. Then they were standing at the docks, a small bit of a seething mass of people. Chuck pulled himself up onto a wall and remembering his Horde training, hooked himself on the and reached down to pull Fire Ears up beside him. 

As they stood on the wall, they could see the crowd parting. He saw Queen Glimmer and Bow walk up onto the dock, laughing and waving at the crowd. Then he saw something that made his blood run cold. Adora he recognized of course, he remembered when she defected and became She-Ra. But while the memory of Adora turning her back on them made him angry like any old betrayal would, what made his blood cold was seeing who was holding her hand. Force Captain Catra. The woman who’d hated the Princesses more than any of them. The woman who had brought the Horde so close to victory. Standing with the enemy.

Catra was smiling and waving at the crowd and then she suddenly turned to kiss Adora. While the crowd cheered, Chuck felt his face set hard as stone as the couple turned back to the crowd with a laugh and waves and faces that shone with love. Then the four of them gave a final wave and disappeared in a flash of light and sparkles. The crowd gave another cheer and kept on partying. Fire Ears turned to him with a smile that quickly turned serious when he saw his face.

“Hey, you OK, Sarge?” he said while leaning in so Chuck could hear him.

“Sorry, yeah, I’m OK,” Chuck said. “Just feel a bit sick all of a sudden.” 

“I get it! Probably all this food and drink. It’s a huge difference from ration bars! Sorry, I should have thought about that, I felt crummy my first few days on these kinds of eats,” Fire Ears said. 

“That’s probably it,” Chuck said as they started to climb down off the wall. “Hey, you mind if we go back to your shop for a bit before I go? I gotta get out of this crowd.” 

“Sure, but where are you going?” Fire Ears said.

“I gotta find a place to stay tonight,” Chuck said

“What!? Nope, that’s not happening! I’ve got a place above the shop and it’s got plenty of room! You’re welcome as long as you want to stay,” Fire Ears replied back.

“FE,” Chuck said using his nickname for Fire Ears, “listen, I’m not going to put you out like that. I can stand on my own.” 

“Hey, drop that. I know you’re tough, you don’t have to prove that. Just let me do this for you. Besides, from the looks of you, you’ve been living out of a tent so you could probably use some indoor time. And you definitely need some new clothes,” Fire Ears said with a deep booming laugh as they walked down the street. 

Chuck tried to smile but the image of Force Captain Catra standing hand in hand with their enemy still burned in his head and made his next reply a bit harsher in tone than he planned. 

“What’s wrong with my clothes, FE?” 

“Whoa! Hey, nothing wrong, I just figured you’d want to get into something other than Horde red and grey. I mean, look at me. I’ve got style, I’ve got panache, I’ve got…,” Fire Ears said before Chuck cut him off. 

“Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to get so defensive there,” Chuck said as they reached the shop. “It’s just been a rough couple of, well, just rough, period.” 

Fire Ears looked at him quietly for a moment and the two of them sat down at the table outside the shop. The flapping fabric drifted around them as people walked home from the docks. They sat in silence enjoying the breeze. Finally Fire Ears spoke up. 

“Sarge, when I left the Fright Zone, you said you were going to wait around to see if Hordak needed us. I know that never happened because we never got the call and I heard where Hordak and Entrapta were together with the Princesses Alliance right after Horde Prime fell. So what I’m trying to say that while I’m thrilled to see you, I can’t help but think there’s something more you’re not telling me,” Fire Ears said. “What have you been doing all this time?”

“Hordak was…,” Chuck began before falling silent.

“Hey, seriously, where have you been? You seem to be really out of the loop on, well, everything,” Fire Ears. 

Chuck sat hunched over in his chair, his mind racing. 

_ Even Hordak? EVEN HORDAK!? I spent years serving him! I was willing to give my life for the cause for him! I figured he’d died in the fighting but now this… this… even him... _

“Sarge? Chuck? Hey, you there?” Fire Ears said after several minutes of silence. 

Chuck looked up at Fire Ears finally and when he started talking, he had a bitter edge to his voice. “I’ve been living under a piece of canvas out on the edge of the Crimson Waste. When I left I’d packed the skiff with ration bars, a tent, and other equipment. Figured with my knowledge of the supplies the Horde had laying about, I’d lay low for a while, be the waiting reserve out on the edge ready to regroup and resupply as soon as I had the chance. I planned to check the comms twice a day, every day, twelve hours apart just like we were taught. 

Well in the first week I got caught in a sandstorm that shredded the tent. I managed to salvage enough to make a lean-to. Not like there’s a lot of rain out that way so it worked but it got dusty. The comm had plenty of chatter but it was all encrypted in a cipher I didn’t have. A few times I tried to send out a message but nothing ever came back. I slipped out to a town once but there were all those Prime bots and people chipped and they didn’t care about the old Horde colors. So I stayed away and waited. 

Then I had to start carefully spacing out my rations. I could probably have gone out and found more but I wanted to wait until I was really low, really almost out and really I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Then something happened to the comm. Haven’t a clue what. Probably needed some maintenance I couldn’t do or dust in the works or just bad luck. Then I was really by myself.”

Chuck lapsed into silence. Fire Ears slid a cup of water over for him but otherwise did nothing. After several long minutes Chuck started talking again he had his head down. 

“When the change came, when I guess the magic came back in full force, I knew something huge had happened. I went out to a town and found out about the fall of Horde Prime. I was giddy. Now it was going to be us again, we didn’t need backup, we’d almost had the Alliance and the Rebellion so many times. We just needed to be lucky once. That’s when I knew it was up to me to get everyone back together, as many of us as I could find. We’d be the Resurgence. That’s why I came looking for you. We always watched out for each other,” Chuck said. 

Fire Ears started to say something and Chuck cut him off and jerked his head up as he spoke, “So imagine how I feel finding out that you’ve settled into, well, whatever this is,” he hissed. “Then I find out that Force Captain Catra is, is what? A friend, a confidant, or hell, probably A PET, of She-Ra? That Hordak and that princess of his just up and switched sides, that they betrayed us, and everything we ever worked for? Everything we worked for, for him!? I imagine Force Captain Scorpia did the same didn’t she? She wasn’t captured, she defected too didn’t she, FE!? Didn’t she?” 

Fire Ears didn’t answer, just slowly shook his head yes. Hot tears ran down Chuck’s face and he did nothing to stop them, just glared at Fire Ears before drawing a deep breath and looking up past the billowing fabric at the stars getting brighter in the evening light. 

“I thought I was down to the basics, help bring back the Horde, win the war finally. I figured you’d know where people had gone or at least would help me out,” Chuck said quietly. “It was all I needed. Sitting out there on the edge of nothing, waiting all that time, it kept me going. I’d be needed soon. I was down to just that thing, it was all I had. Now what? Now what do I do?” 

After a moment Fire Ears reached out and put his hand on Chuck’s hand. 

“Hey, I’m going to help you, Sarge,” he said as Chuck looked over at him with eyes starting to fill with something close to hope. “But not getting the Horde back together, not the way you want. While you were sitting out there in the Waste I was moving around out here. I’m not insulting you or anything, we all had our way to follow, but I’m telling you I saw what the Horde did, both our Horde and Prime’s Horde. You better be glad that you missed most of Prime sitting out there. It was ugly.

That’s why I came here and started the shop, this whatever it is as you called it. It’s one way I can make things different by making beautiful things for people to wear. On my off time, I go out and help rebuild around the area. I want to help you, Sarge. I’ll give you a place to live, I’ll help you stand up again, and you can join me in making things better. Sarge, come on. You’re good at planning. You and I could do good things together.” 

Chuck looked into Fire Ears’ eyes and saw his friend looking back at him full of warmth and caring. It wasn’t something you saw very often in the Horde, at least not in some kind of non-threatening way, since it could look like weakness. He wanted to pull his friend into a hug and say he’d do it but what would he be if he gave up now? 

“No,” Chuck said as he hardened his heart and pulled his hand away. “No, all the betrayal, all the fighting, it can’t have been for nothing, everything I’ve put my life into, it can’t! I can make it happen! I can do this! We will be strong, we will be the Resurgence…,”

“Chuck!” Fire Ears said in a deep booming voice cutting him off. Chuck started and fell silent. 

“Listen, no matter what you told yourself, at the heart of it all you were a supply sergeant. And you were a good one too. You were good at analyzing. Now want you to think about something, and I mean really think about it. And that is, why did all of those higher ups switch over? Why’d they leave the path they’d worked on just as hard, if not harder, than you?” Fire Ears said. 

“You could argue Catra did it for love and I’m guessing you haven’t heard that story yet but just trust me on it, but what about Scorpia? What about Shadow Weaver? What about Hordak? Why did they switch? I know what I think but I’m not going to tell you, I want you to think about it. Really think about it. While you do that, I got an order to fill. You decide to stay, there’s an open room for you. The staircase is at the side of the shop,” Fire Ears said as he stood up from the table and he was about to walk into the shop when he stopped at the door for a moment before he turned around. 

“You’re like what I imagine a brother would be to me but I’m not following you off on whatever it is you’re trying to do now. No one's here to give you an order anymore. It’s just you and your choice.” 

With that Fire Ears went inside. Chuck saw him settle down at a machine in the back of the store and start piecing together clothes. He turned away and looked up at the stars bright in the sky. 

_ They're not as clear here, _ Chuck thought.  _ Not like out at the edge of the Waste. There’s something about them though, I think they sparkle more from here.  _

He sat in silence and stared at the stars most of the night thinking deeper thoughts then he’d ever had. Shortly before dawn he stood from his seat and began walking through the quiet lanes of the town towards where he’d left his skiff. He’d made up his mind. 

“We’re reforming the Horde,” Chuck said as he plunked down a bag full of gear on the counter in front of Fire Ears an hour later. 

Fire Ears threw up his hands in exasperation as he said,“No, we’re not!”

“No, wait, listen,” Chuck said quickly. “I mean it two ways. One, we’re going to go out and find all those Horde soldiers you know are still out roaming around, trying to figure out this new word and form them up. But we’re also going to reform the Horde. What you said made sense. Why did all those higher ups switch? Because I think they realized what they were doing needed to change. So we do. We’re going to change, we’re going to be better. We can do this.”

Chuck started unloading gear out of the bag. Ration bars, a stun baton, Horde body armor, boots, a knife, and other small bits and pieces of Horde equipment. 

“What do you see here?” Chuck said. 

“An untidy mess of gear that’d get you chewed out for at inspection?” Fire Ears said with a grin. 

“Very funny,” Chuck said. “No! Manufactured gear! Sure it’s towards war purposes but think about it! The Fright Zone probably still has all of that manufacturing capability. We built forts all over the place with that capability. We built tough vehicles and equipment. Let’s get those soldiers together and get the manufacturing going again for something useful. We’ll go from place to place in our carriers and skiffs, not as a conquering army but as roving builders. We’ll set it up in squads and platoons like we did in the Horde. It’ll be a familiar structure. And we’ll start with places the Horde hit the most and offer our services. Magic may be back but I don’t know magic. What I do know is organizing and hey, maybe they’ll spit on us and throw us out but then again maybe they won’t. But we got to try. What do you think?” 

Fire Ears sat quiet for a moment then said, “We’ll need uniforms, something that isn’t old Horde but still says Horde cause if we’re trying to reform that name then we need to not shy away from what we did. And we’ll need to talk to Scorpia about using the Fright Zone because I’m pretty sure the Fright Zone is hers now. But I’m in, Sarge.” 

They spent the next few days in the shop, getting everything ready to go. Fire Ears found someone who’d take over the place from him and packed up all his tailor gear into the skiff. Chuck sat with a data pad and started working through everything he could think of when it came to inventory and organizing people, bouncing his ideas off Fire Ears as they both worked. At night they made a habit of sitting on the porch in the evening after dinner and watching the night fall talking about old fond memories. 

Finally, the day came that they both clambered aboard the skiff. They both wore the new uniform that they’d designed together, heavy pants in grey covered in pockets and a red shirt with a white stripe down the arms. On the back of the shirt was a new sigil for the Horde that Fire Ears had dreamed up. Instead of the old red symbol, it was in white with the sides outstretched like wings and a stylized hand open beneath it as if letting it fly. A small crowd gathered to watch them leave and gave them a little cheer as they took to the skies.

“You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve got a cheer from a crowd as we left on skiff that wasn’t also trying to catch us,” Fire Ears said as they spiraled out over the ocean and then towards the Fright Zone. 

“I know, I gotta say, I think I like that,” Chuck said back. 

They kept the talk to a minimum as they travelled, both engrossed in their thoughts. Chuck still had doubts over what he’d decided. He felt that Fire Ears was right and that it was time to do something else but there was still a part of him that didn’t want to give up the old dream. 

_ If I give up, if I give up this last thing and this doesn’t work, then what? I’ll have nothing left. I’m scared,  _ Chuck thought to himself. Then Fire Ears, navigating for Chuck, pointed out they’d be coming up on the Fright Zone soon and Chuck looked at his friend and swallowed down his fear and tried to hope instead. 

As they came over a ridge on the old flight approach for the Fright Zone they saw it sprawled out in front of them, radically changed. They both gaped at the foliage draped over everything. They circled a few times to see everything and saw evidence of the massive damage that had happened. As they came in close to a landing field that still looked open they saw Scorpia standing at the side of the field waving at them. 

“Well finding her isn’t going to be that hard I can see,” Fire Ears laughed as they came in for a landing. 

Chuck wasn't looking at Scorpia though. He was looking at the willowy woman standing beside her wearing a flower crown and waving. He knew her. It was Princess Perfuma. He’d never faced her in a fight but other Horde soldiers had talked about how she’d rolled through growing vines and other plants that threw them and trapped them tight. Others had talked about how she’d grown an enormous cactus that lifted an entire spacecraft high into the air while in the Crimson Waste. As she stood there beside Scorpia he knew she was a powerful force, literally a force of nature, and he shuddered at the thought of what might happen if they weren’t warmly received. As they got down off the skiff, Scorpia and Perfuma started walking towards them and Chuck suddenly felt something whirl around his head and settle on his brow. He carefully reached up and felt flowers laced together into a circlet. Chucked looked over at Fire Ears and saw that one had settled on his head as well. 

“Chuck, Fire Ears, it’s so good to see you come back,” Scorpia said as she got close enough to sweep them up into a hug.

Chuck was dumbfounded as he was swept up by Scorpia’s large arms. Perfuma joined the hug as well and in that moment as he was hugged by a Horde Force Captain and a Princess, he knew all the way down to his toes that things had definitely changed. 

“Ummm, Force Captain Scorpia, Fire Ears and I are reporting in and we’d like to report something we’ve come with I guess to you. In a report,” Chuck stammered out as the hug came to an end. 

“Oh wow, Force Captain, still not used to hearing that again. But I guess I’m not one anymore, not since, well, a while,” Scorpia said as she took Perfuma’s hand in her claw. “But that’s fine! That’s fine! You can just call me Scorpia because that’s me and I’m good with that name!” 

Perfuma laughed a friendly laugh and said, “You don’t have to be all formal anymore! The Hordes no more but you’re of course welcome here. Scorpia is going to run the Fright Zone now.” 

Fire Ears finally spoke up and said, “Just a thought but maybe don’t call it the Fright Zone anymore?” 

“Well, this was my family's kingdom for years even before Hordak showed up and our ancestral castle is still called Horror Hall so I may just keep it cause, you know, family, tradition… um, thing” Scorpia replied. “But you said you had a report?”

“Yes, we do. We want to reform the Horde,” Chuck said. 

A silence fell over the group and in the quiet Chuck could hear Fire Ears slowly placing his hand over his face. As he realized how the sentence had been received he quickly started talking before he ended up inside a plant. 

“What I mean is not reform them as in let’s go out conquering but reform them as in reform something in a good way so that they can do good things! You know, useful! For people!” Chuck said as he started to sweat a little. 

“Maybe we should sit down and you can take a moment to get yourself centered and we can hear you out?” Perfuma said. 

They found a place to sit and Chuck and Fire Ears began to lay out their plan. They discussed trying to find ex-Horde soldiers and bring them into the fold and set the whole thing up like the Horde was, in groups reporting up the line of what they were out doing and getting advice back down of what they might be able to do. But they would also be free to move about and work on things that they found.

“So instead the people back here in the Fright Zone wouldn’t really be a leader but more of just a hub to share information, have an overall view of everything, keep it organized, and help supply equipment,” Fire Ears said. 

“And we’ve got a new uniform like what we’re wearing and I know where a lot of supply depots with useful equipment are still stashed around Etheria and, Scorpia, if you let us use the Fright Zone’s manufacturing capabilities we can replace that as well as it runs down. We could do real good we think,” Chuck said. 

Scorpia was tapping her claw on the side of her head as she listened and finally looked up. “Uh huh, uh huh, yes, I like it. I like it. And Chuck, I think you should be in charge, the head, or at least whatever it is we’ll call the person getting everything organized for those in the field. I think you should have been a Force Captain because you really were top when it came to organizing, I remember.” 

With that they began work immediately and they started putting things into action. Several days later Chuck was gathering up a group of people to head towards a town in Plumeria that had a stash of equipment near it. He’d already flown out there himself with just Fire Ears, Scorpia and Perfuma to find out if the town would want their help and check to see if the stash was still intact. While the townsfolk were nervous at first it helped they could see Perfuma and Scorpia standing with the two ex-Horde soldiers.

So it was that one night he was lashing the last of some construction equipment to a troop transport skiff they’d converted to haul cargo when Perfuma approached him. He was still nervous around her and doubly so without Scorpia around but he was trying hard not to be. 

_ She’s not your enemy anymore,  _ he told himself constantly. 

“Scorpia and I have been talking and she thought I should ask you this,” Perfuma said to him. “I’ve been helping the ex-Horde soldiers one-on-one with their feelings and working to get them grounded and centered and just getting their energy flowing right. And well, there seems to be a lot of them and I thought it’d be helpful if we did it together as a group!” 

“I’m not quite sure what you mean. Like, talking?” Chuck said. 

“Yes! Talking about shared experiences and how we’re feeling now and some meditation and just generally working on ourselves while we work on helping others,” Perfuma said. 

“Ummm, sure, I guess? I mean we’d probably hang out after we’ve worked and talk anyway so I don’t see why not,” Chuck replied. 

“It’s so much more than that but you’ll see! It’ll be great! I’ll get it all set up when we get to the town!” Perfuma said. 

Chuck gave a confused smile as Perfuma went on her way and passed the small group that made up the first construction crew. They gathered around Chuck as he handed out last minute updates and sent schedules and memos to data pads. He realized he felt happy and it was such an unusual feeling that it took him a moment to fully recognize it for what it was. He shook his head as he grinned.

The next morning found the small team lifting in the heavily loaded skiffs. It was a small group but that was by design. Fire Ears had pointed out in one of the planning sessions with the two Princesses, and Chuck had agreed, that letting people know they were trying to atone was all well and good but people would probably still be nervous and on edge if a huge group of Horde skiffs started descending on the town.

That first morning was spent just getting to the town and then getting their equipment unloaded in town before lifting off again and landing a short walk away in a field where they planned to stay. Chuck and with Fire Ears directed everything like a delicate dance, making sure that things got unloaded where they needed to be and when they needed to be. They ferried some supplies out of the old Horde cache to the edge of town and got it all ready to go. Finally, they were all sitting around the skiffs in the open field as Chuck addressed them. 

“Good job everyone! We’re a bit ahead of schedule. Remember if you come up with something to make this go smoother, I’d appreciate to know. Send it to my data pad. This will help us set up SOP for future work,” Chuck said. 

“OK, tomorrow Squad Alpha, you’ll start on the construction while Squad Bravo goes to the supply depot and brings back more supplies. However, today we’re going to stay over here and let the folks in town get used to us at first. Also this afternoon, like I sent you in the memo, Perfuma has offered to help us talk out our issues. Now I have no idea what that means and normally, I’m not sure I’d want to do it. But you know I’m learning that it can’t hurt to try something different,” Chuck said as the group chuckled a little. “So you don’t have to if you don’t want to, you can have the rest of the day off to just hang out but I say they’ve been good to us and Perfuma thinks this is something that’ll help so why not? I’m doing it.”

He was expecting maybe just a few of them to agree to it but to his surprise the whole group went along with it. They all traipsed down a forest path into a grove of trees with a clearing in the center. They found that Perfuma had been hard at work earlier in the day growing logs and then shaping them into comfortable chairs. A few of the crew quickly dug and lined a firepit and they were all getting settled when they heard the distinct sound of a skiff flying overhead. 

_ Who in the world is that?  _ Chuck thought.  _ No one else was supposed to be coming.  _

He thought about getting up and checking but decided against it. 

_ It’s my afternoon off too after all,  _ he thought with a grin. 

The whole group was chatting when they heard a few people coming down the path. The first hint that Chuck had that something was out of the ordinary was all of the crew suddenly stopped talking all at once and looked up the path. Silence had never been a good thing in his life with the Horde and with his back towards the path his nerves all set on edge as he turned around to see what was going on. 

At first he just noticed Perfuma but then he noticed the two people with her. Adora barely registered for him. Catra though, Catra he noticed immediately. The two walked hand in hand and immediately the thought jumped into his head,  _ Traitor! She’s a traitor! You can get her now! You can get them both! _

But he finally realized that this voice, while being him, was still just a fading ember of what he was leaving behind and he didn’t need to feed it anymore. Everyone stood and started shuffling down and Chuck moved over as well once Fire Ears had moved down a few spots. 

“Here you go, Force Captain,” Chuck said with a warm smile. “Got room for you right here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate you taking the time and I hope you enjoyed it! 
> 
> When I write I usually set out with an idea for an end and a beginning and then write to link the two. This one actually ended up swerving off from the original ending pretty quickly. Chuck was originally going to be much more devious and determined and was going to show up to the group therapy circle with a hidden dagger because he had heard Catra and Adora were going to be there. He'd do his best to sit next to them both with the hopes of getting at least one of them. That fell pretty quickly as I wrote and realized that Chuck had only been a front line soldier for a short time, and hadn't been one for a while, but had been a gifted supply sergeant in the Horde. Then I realized I needed a way for him to start contacting ex-Horde soldiers and the first person he approached had to be someone he deeply trusted. Fire Ears was born out of that. 
> 
> Finally, as this is part of The Lyrical Anthology, this is named for a lyric from a Nine Inch Nails song called Something I Can Never Have. It was originally going to be called that but like the ending I realized that I'm Down to Just One Thing worked so much better because Chuck was down to just one thing, his desire to do something and get back to what he thought he had lost. The song itself is incredibly melancholy and has deep meaning to me associated with serious grief so I'm glad I could use it to make something that's more redemptive.


End file.
